The panelist discuss the new UB and break down 2010 in the latest episode of The Poker Beat.

The Poker Beat: January 4, 2011

[audio:http://www.pokerroad.com/download/the-poker-beat:92]

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• Sorel Mizzi Bluff Magazine POY
• WSOP days will end after 10 levels.
• Annie & Phil part ways with UB.
• Prahlad Friedman to sell out?
• Top Poker Stories of 2010.

Vote vigorously and/or repeatedly for The Poker Beat
for Favorite Web-based Show in Bluff magazine’s 2010 Reader’s Choice Awards.

The Detox Poker Series is right around the corner, starting Friday Aug. 13 with a $100k Guarantee for a $350 buy-in with two day ones, re-entry allowed. The spankin’-new small-stakes/big-action festival comes at a whispery time around the home room to the Pokerati NLH/PLO game … with a new crew of top-level casino brass combing through the Hard Rock’s books while walking through various gaming areas with tape measures … raising uncomfortable questions about the fate of the $12 million, two-year-old poker lounge that has seen its ups and downs without yet fully realizing its potential.

Of course that’s kinda the point of bringing in an internationally renowned tourney director. Or at least it was initially. Kinda still works, but for different reasons …

First things first … Savage has guaranteed the guarantees — $350k worth. This is despite a misleading tweet just two weeks ago from @hardrockpoker saying there’d be $1 million in guaranteed prize pools. [/shaking head] It coulda just been a hyperbolic typo, but an amusingly ironic one then considering the Hard Rock’s image problems after a few overpromises that these tourneys were to help put to rest. But according to Matt himself on 2+2, he’s got the $350k locked up by contract no matter how few players show.

Beyond that … expect an extra-partytime atmosphere around typical Savage series stuff (deep structures, quality dealers, friendly intelligent floor, good internet coverage, etc.) to liven up the joint: He’s in charge of providing ultra-improved tournament action while the Hard Rock promises to provide good music and a guaranteed flow of nipple-friendly eye-candy stumbling past the poker room.

More…

Here’s some of what’s been happening on Saturday:

Donkament Disappointing?

Day 1a of the Event #3 – $1,000 No-limit Holdem tournament drew a field of 2,601 entries today, a disappointment for those expecting a field of over 7,000 battling for this bracelet over the weekend. The 788 players who made it to the dinner break are returning shortly for another four levels of play. The unofficial chip leader is PokerRoad’s Joe Sebok with 27,000 chips. Other notable chip counts: Amarillo Slim (21,000), Chris Bjorin (20,000) and Bryan Devonshire, (17,500). Track the action for this event over at PokerNews.

First bracelet winner to be determined tonight

Just 18 players remain in the first WSOP bracelet event the $500 Casino Employees Event have returned from their dinner break, with Kent Washington maintaining the chip lead at 332,000 in chips. You can follow the action for this event over at PokerNews.com.

Players’ Championship Day 2

The $50,000 Players’ Championship field is currently on their one-hour dinner break at the conclusion of level eight with 90 players remaining. The current chip leader appears to be Steve Zolotow, with 420,000 in chips. Some of the fallen who may be looking to watch UFC 114 include: Phil Galfond, Tony G, and Todd Brunson. When play resumes, the field will play another three levels before the bag up their chips, sign their name, and hopefully don’t be recorded as busted when they decided not to report their chip counts. To catch the action of this event over at PokerNews, head here.

Saturday at noon is the first of six $1,000 No-limit holdem events, each having two day 1’s and fields of at least 5,000 expected. Last year’s “Stimulus Special”, won by Steve Sung for over $770,000, drew out all kinds of people, as Pauly noted in his Nostrum Donkulus post. After reading that, check out his morning link dump.

Time for some Friday recapping:

Casino Employees Cashing

The first bracelet event, $500 Casino Employees , finished play at the end of level 10 with 53 players remaining. The chip leader is Kent Washington, from Oakland, California with 168,300 in chips. Jonathan Kotula, who won this event in 2008, is in 2nd (108,700). The only other recognizable name remaining is Bellagio tournament director Jack McClleland (19,700). The tournament is scheduled to resume at 2:30pm today, although the 1k donkament may delay that start. The schedule notes they’re playing down to a winner today, but circumstances may prevent that. If they play down to a winner today, it may put a damper on the plans looking to take part in Bluff’s Streak 2 Seven contest to win a 2010 or 2011 WSOP me seat, as mentioned on this week’s episode of the award-winning Poker Beat.

Players’ Championship Moves to Day 2

Day 1 of the $50,000 Players’ Championship concluded earlier this morning with 105 of the 116 players remaining. Chip counts haven’t been finalized, but it appears Erik Sagstrom will be the chip leader at 329,100. Other notables in the top 10: David Oppenheim (313,800), “Miami John” Cernuto and Joe Serock (265,000), Justin Bonomo (255,000), Barry Greenstein (240,100), and early chip leader Daniel Kelly (223,000). Tom Dwan, Brian Townsend, and 2009 dual bracelet winner Greg Mueller started off down $50,000 at the WSOP, eliminated on Friday. The remaining field will return at 3pm today as the field is scheduled to play six 90-minute levels.

Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting

For those who get eliminated early enough, you can watch guys trying to beat the shit out of each other at the MGM Grand Garden area for UFC 114 tonight. The highly anticipated main event features Rashad Evans v Quinton “Rampage” Jackson topping an 11-fight card. For those looking for a preview of the fights, or looking for some good betting tips, check out www.mmafix.com and www.rawvegas.tv.

More later today, but in the meantime be sure to check Pokerati, on Twitter and hit up the official WSOP site over at www.wsop.com

Poker 2Nite crosses the halfway point of its first run of shows, and last show of 2009, with a segment with Justin Bonomo and an interview with PokerRoad Radio co-host Gavin Smith. Parts 2 and 3 appear on the following page.

More…

The latest and greatest from Huff and Seebs as they review the WPT Five Diamond Doyle Brunson Classic, an interview with 2009 CardPlayer POY (and new addition to Team UB Eric Baldwin) and a story on several players shaving their heads in support of Thuy Doan. Parts 2 and 3 appear on the following page:

More…

One of the main complaints about those affected by the UB superuser scandal is that players have not been able to see their hand histories against the list of 100+ superusers. From Joe Sebok’s blog:

Whew, crazy couple of days. Thanks everyone for all the support. You guys are amazing and I can’t thank you enough for the love. For the skeptical, I just ask that you give the situation some more time…

Now, let’s get to the release of the hand histories. It’s a two-part process and here is the rundown:

First off, UB is currently working to catch up on all past historical requests, so be aware of that if you already have a request in. In truth though, it can’t hurt to send another email request just to lock it up. You can do so at [email protected]. Please include all pertinent information in your email: your name, address, and your user name.

Now, once your request has been processed you should expect a summary version of the information first. It’ll be a spreadsheet that details every hand you specifically played against each of the identified 117 cheating accounts. This will be a complete record of all those hands so that you can go through and verify the refund amounts yourselves. This will act as a summary as we want to get something out to you while the actual detailed hand histories are processed, which obviously takes longer.

Some hand histories will go out quickly, as they won’t contain as many hands as others. Some players have played a ridiculous amount of hands however and that will take a longer amount of time to process. Again, this is the reason for the first, summary hand breakdown of the information, as that gets something in your hands that you can begin checking sooner.

Please be a little patient with getting this information out and back to you once you have requested it. I know you have all been waiting for quite a while, but this kind of project takes some time to run through.

Thanks to the KGC and UB for making this all happen. I am impressed to say the least.

Didn’t really see this one coming, but Joe Sebok explained in great detail why he made the decision to join the UltimateBet team. His latest blog post on PokerRoad starts with his skepticism about joining UB when he was asked on previous occasions, and it ends with the reasons he not only agreed to be a sponsored player but a consultant for the company in charge of media and operations.

The stipulation for joining the team came with wanting to ensure that the company moves forward – away from the scandal – in a positive direction and maintains a spotlessly clean reputation and record. Feeling responsible to the poker community that is part of PokerRoad, he wanted to be sure that he will represent a company that he believes in and one that the poker world can again trust. And to show that UB is willing to be as open as possible, the company has agreed to let Sebok’s first priority be the release of all hand histories associated with the scandal and the names of those paired with those accounts. Though KGC wanted no part of releasing the names of Russ Hamilton’s 31 co-conspirators, UB seems to have changed its mind on the subject.

Sebok wrote:

The first order of business with my position at Ub has been to help aid in the release of not only ALL of the hand histories from the super-user scandal, but also the accounts that were used to perpetuate the scandal itself and the actual physical names of those individuals who we believe to have been directly involved in disparate ways with the actual cheating. As most of you know, two-thirds of this has now been accomplished. Please take this as a first step in showing that things will be different at UltimateBet moving forward. I commend Paul and the management team over at Ub for being open to this release and making it happen at my insistence . They deserve all the credit in the world today in taking these first steps in ensuring that this case gets closed, and closed correctly.

From the PokerRoad forum:

Dear PokerRoad Community,

As many of you know, my cousin Justin Shronk passed away unexpectedly in April of this year. He was a 2005 graduate of the School of Communications and Theater at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA, and was following his dream of a career in the media industry. He greatly enjoyed his work as producer of PokerRoad Radio. His experience there was made all the better by the opportunity to interact with you, members of the PokerRoad community.

After his passing, many of you had expressed interest in honoring Justin is some way, and so I wanted to share the news with you that a permanent, endowed scholarship fund has been created in Justin’s memory at the School of Communications and Theater. Endowed scholarships exist in perpetuity, and we are grateful to be able to pay tribute to Justin’s life and career in this way.

The Justin Shronk Scholarship will provide scholarship support for students majoring in Broadcasting, Telecommunications and Mass Media within the School of Communications and Theater, which was Justin’s major as a student. Students must have financial need, and we have asked that there be a preference for a student who has one parent who is deceased. As you might know, Justin’s father passed away while he was a student at Temple. It was a challenging time for him, and we wanted to recognize the difficulties that other students face in similar situations.

We have also asked that the recipient of the scholarship exemplify some of the same characteristics that Justin exhibited during his life—an absolute passion for everything media, a great wit and sense of humor, loyalty in his friendships, and someone who would take a job for less money to be able to do the work that he loved.

If you would be interested in making a contribution to be added to the endowment, you may do so by mailing a check to the attention of:

Ashley Lomery, Director of Development and Alumni Relations
School of Communications and Theater
Temple University
1938 Liacouras Walk, 2nd Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19122

You may also call Ashley to make a credit card gift by phone. Her number is 215.204.1384. Gifts can also be made online at: myowlspace.com/makeagift. At the drop down menu, please select: School of Communications and Theater, Other, then fill in Justin Shronk Memorial Scholarship.

Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact me directly by email at [email protected] You may also contact Ashley Lomery at 215.204.1384 or [email protected]. All gifts to the Justin Shronk Scholarship Fund are fully tax-deductible, and a receipt for tax purposes will be sent to you by Temple University.

Every gift made to the endowment will increase the amount available to award to students, allowing them to follow their dreams as Justin did.

I, along with Justin’s mother Kim, sister Courtney, and all of his family and friends, greatly appreciate your consideration of making a gift to support this scholarship fund in his name. I also want to extend special thanks to Robert Gauss, member of the PokerRoad Community, for helping to launch this effort.

Brian Lemke

Beating almost everyone’s expectations, the November Nine was established before 11pm Wednesday night with chip leader Darvin Moon cracked Jordan Smith’s aces, flopping a set of eights. Here’s how the final table is scheduled to be seated when the players return on November 7th to the Penn and Teller Theater at the Rio:

Seat 1: Darvin Moon – 58,930,000
Seat 2: James Akenhead – 6,800,000
Seat 3: Phil Ivey – 9,765,000
Seat 4: Kevin Schaffel – 12,390,000
Seat 5: Steven Begleiter – 29,885,000
Seat 6: Eric Buchman – 34,800,000
Seat 7: Joe Cada – 13,215,000
Seat 8: Antoine Saout – 9,500,000
Seat 9: Jeff Shulman – 19,580,000

As some Twittered earlier this morning, the appearance of Phil Ivey at the final table caused much joy to the WSOP staff, ESPN, and the poker forum community. You’ve got the chip leader a good ol’ boy from Maryland who’s involved in the most dangerous job in the US (logging), meaning those who wonder what happens if someone in the November Nine passes away or is incapacitated may have their wish come true. You have Begleiter, a former executive at Bear Stearns, You’ve got two European players (Akenhead and Saout), you’ve got the lightning rod for the “bad for poker” audience in Shulman, who made statements that he would throw away the bracelet if he won, criticizing the WSOP’s stance on exclusivity in poker reporting. These stories and many others will be played out in the coming days, and Pokerati will be there to sift through them all, starting this afternoon on The Poker Beat over at www.pokerroad.com.

Recapping the late-night Wednesday action…

Michael T. Davis Goes ShronkDaddy on Seniors

Michael T. Davis became the second player to take down a WSOP bracelet this year wearing a PokerRoad t-shirt, winning the $1,000 Seniors NL Holdem World Championship. Davis, 58, from Dubuque, Iowa, had just sold his home inspection business last week, and was looking to move to a warmer location. The $437,358 and gold bracelet for his win will surely help with the moving expenses. Like Brian Lemke earlier this month, Justin Shronk was in the winner’s thoughts. From Nolan Dalla’s tournament report:

“Justin gave me this shirt,” Davis said afterward. “A lot of people miss Justin. He was very good for the poker community.”

Davis never held the chip lead until the first hand of heads-up, when he doubled through runner-up Scott Buller with pocket aces against Buller’s pocket nines. The final hand had Davis’ A-9 best Buller’s A-J when another 9 came on the turn.

Kabbaj Dominating Pot-Limit

John Kabbaj is the only player with a seven-figure chip stack, holding over 2.2m in chips with 14 players remaining in the $10,000 Pot-Limit Holdem World Championship which resumes at 1pm today. Here’s how the remaining players will be seated:

(Table 154)
Seat 2: JC Alvarado – 924000
Seat 3: Eric ‘basebaldy’ Baldwin – 713000
Seat 4: Davidi Kitai – 581000
Seat 5: Mohsin Charania – 224000
Seat 6: Jason Lester – 240000
Seat 7: Darryll Fish – 368000
Seat 8: Kirill Gerasimov – 550000

(Table 154)
Seat 1: Billy Kopp – 772000
Seat 2: Eugene Todd – 351000
Seat 3: Thomas Pettersson – 121000
Seat 5: John Kabbaj – 2226000
Seat 6: Isaac Haxton – 660000
Seat 7: Ken Lennaard – 467000
Seat 8: Michael Kamran – 261000

When the final table is reached, streaming will be available at bluffmagazine.com and wsop.pkr.com

Tenner Looking to be a Winner in Omaha-8

Play also resumes at 1pm in the $2,500 Omaha Hi/Lo 8 or Better event with 23 players remaining, with Mark Tenner leading the field at 285,000. John Monnette (237,000), C.K. Hua (225,000), Day 1 chip leader Josh Schlein (201,000) Frankie O’Dell (194,000), Mark Gregorich (108,000), Pat Poels (89,000) and Mike Matusow (63,000) are the notables looking to pass the Omaha-8 author.

Greenstein Leader in Mixed Holdem

Barry Greenstein (177,200) will lead the remaining 67 players in the $2,500 Mixed Holdem event when play resumes at 2pm. Notables also making a return on Thursday include: Hasan Habib (165,000), Daniel Negreanu (101,000), Amnon Filippi (98,000), Mimi Tran (65,300) and Gavin Griffin (46,600) with 54 players making the money.

Thursday’s tournament

Only one tournament this afternoon, the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha 8 or Better event, won last year by Martin Klaser winning over $210,000 in a field of 720. The WSOP Staff Guide projects a field of 756 for this event, and expect less than 20% of the field when play concludes at the end of level 10.

Follow along at www.wsop.com for updates starting at noon PT, and Pokerati will have more stuff from around the poker community during the day.

A great article appeared in the New York Times yesterday about poker’s relationship with Twitter at the WSOP. Complete with a Joe Sebok interview, the piece examines the impact of Twitter on poker players and reporters.

As a growing number of poker players are beginning to send out short messages to the world via Twitter, existing poker media is being disrupted and the news sites are scrambling to out-compete with each other in responding to the players’ direct and immediate communication with their fans. Players are reading each others’ Tweets, too, and that has consequences.

We talked about all this disruption with Joe Sebok, a poker player, the CEO of the Poker Road news site and a man with almost 330,000 people following him on Twitter. All the major poker news sites are racing to integrate Twitter and Sebok says his site isn’t one of the biggest – but as far as we can tell, Poker Road’s use of Twitter during the World Series of Poker may be defining the state of the art better than anyone else in the industry.

Nice job, Seebs! PokerRoad Nation deserves credit where it’s due. (And in our own shameless plug, Pokerati has its own Twitterverse. It’s no “nation,” just a universe-type thing – LOL.)

On the air … recording now:

http://www.pokerroad.com/the_poker_beat/live/

PokerRoad did an amazing tribute show to Justin Shronk, featuring Joe Sebok, Gavin Smith, Ali Nejad, Court Harrington, Scott Huff, and special guest BJ Nemeth.

If you knew Shronk, this is well worth the time. If you didn’t, it gives some insight into a life lost too early but a life well-lived and filled with friendship, respect, and love. Click here to listen to the heartfelt tribute.

On a personal note, thanks to the guys for putting together this show. Almost as difficult as feeling the loss of Shronk was hearing the heartbreak and sadness in your voices, but it is deeply appreciated.

Rest in peace, Shronk.

http://pokerroad.com/blog/joe-sebok/posts/a-very-sad-day-justin-shronk-1981-2009

He’ll be missed by the poker community and so many others.